Behind the scenes with James Wiseman and Memphis East at the Tournament of Champions

James Wiseman, of Memphis East High School, talks on the phone while riding down the elevator at the University Plaza Hotel before his game in the Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions at JQH Arena on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019.(Photo: Andrew Jansen/News-Leader)

For James Wiseman, the day starts just like it does for most people — with breakfast in the morning.

He has bacon and eggs — it's 8:03 at the Terrace Grille at the University Plaza Hotel and the 7-foot-tall No. 1 senior prospect in the country has practice in an hour at JQH Arena.

Wiseman and his high school basketball team — the Memphis East Mustangs — have a game at 4:30 p.m. in an opening round match-up at the 2019 Bass Pro Tournament of Champions.

No, Wiseman didn't bring his unicorn to Springfield — although he admits he should have. He used that stuffed animal with a pink mane to announce his decision to commit to the hometown college, the University of Memphis, and play for Penny Hardaway — who was his high school coach just a season ago.

Other teams start to join around Memphis East.

Shadow Mountain, a Phoenix team led by head coach and former NBA player Mike Bibby, begin to take up the surrounding tables around 8:15.

Buy Photo

James Wiseman, left, of Memphis East High School, eats a hand full of Skittles in the locker room at JQH Arena for the Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019.(Photo: Andrew Jansen/News-Leader)

Breakfast concludes for the Mustangs at 8:20. They all rise once head coach Jevonte Holmes tells them it's time to get ready for practice.

At once, a high school basketball team with a 7-foot "kid" and a second 6-foot-8 Memphis signee tower over the main lobby of the hotel — seemingly taller than the shrubbery. They're going up the elevators just a few minutes later.

It's time to get ready for practice. After all, basketball is the reason they're here.

Thirty minutes later, the Mustangs come down the elevators in their matching gray team coats and sweatshirts. It's a weird 42-degree and foggy morning in the middle of January in Springfield.

Their bus is waiting for them outside to take them just down the street to JQH Arena.

Just a few minutes later, the bus departs. It's quiet as the team still appears to be sleepy. There are only whispers and muffled bass coming from headphones during the short drive.

James Wiseman, of Memphis East High School, talks on the phone while riding down the elevator at the University Plaza Hotel before his game in the Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions at JQH Arena on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. Andrew Jansen/News-Leader

James Wiseman, of Memphis East High School, sits in the locker room before his team's game in the Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions at JQH Arena on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. Andrew Jansen/News-Leader

James Wiseman, of Memphis East High School, dunks the ball during the Mustang's game against Parkview in the Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions at JQH Arena on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. Andrew Jansen/News-Leader

James Wiseman, of Memphis East High School, looks for a rebound during the Mustang's game against Parkview in the Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions at JQH Arena on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. Andrew Jansen/News-Leader

James Wiseman, of Memphis East High School, walks out of the University Plaza Hotel before his game in the Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions at JQH Arena on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. Andrew Jansen/News-Leader

James Wiseman, left, of Memphis East High School, smiles as he looks at his phone while riding on the bus to JQH Arena for the Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. Andrew Jansen/News-Leader

James Wiseman, center, of Memphis East High School, looks at his phone while waiting to go to the locker room at JQH Arena for the Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. Andrew Jansen/News-Leader

James Wiseman, center, of Memphis East High School, looks at his phone while getting taped up at JQH Arena for the Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. Andrew Jansen/News-Leader

James Wiseman, left, of Memphis East High School, eats a hand full of Skittles in the locker room at JQH Arena for the Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. Andrew Jansen/News-Leader

James Wiseman, center, of Memphis East High School, listens to his coach in the locker room at JQH Arena for the Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. Andrew Jansen/News-Leader

James Wiseman, center left, of Memphis East High School, bows his head for a prayer in the locker room at JQH Arena for the Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. Andrew Jansen/News-Leader

James Wiseman, 32, of Memphis East High School, listens to his coach in the huddle before the Mustang's game against Parkview in the Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions at JQH Arena on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. Andrew Jansen/News-Leader

James Wiseman, of Memphis East High School, puts up a shot during the Mustang's game against Parkview in the Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions at JQH Arena on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. Andrew Jansen/News-Leader

James Wiseman, of Memphis East High School, dunks the ball during the Mustang's game against Parkview in the Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions at JQH Arena on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. Andrew Jansen/News-Leader

The bus unloads at 8:54 a.m. The players enter the arena and walk through the concourse on their way to overlooking the court and empty seats that will be filled later in the night.

Waiting to meet the Mustangs on the court is Missouri State assistant coach Jake Headrick. The assistant has a prior relationship with Holmes, as Headrick once recruited one of his players from a previous job.

Memphis East has just an hour of time on the court. So they need to make their time count. The clock starts counting down on the scoreboard — right next to the Missouri State and Evansville logos left over from the previous night.

The main attraction, Wiseman, takes his time during stretches up and down the court — in a good way. He hustles just as hard as anyone during the warm-ups.

Drills start out shaky — Holmes is upset. The players still appear to be half asleep while running through their offensive motions.

They also aren't knocking down their shots. Holmes changed it up. The players get in lines and take shots in circles for the next 20 minutes — which is dizzying to the eye. The team did much of its walk-through at practice the night before, and Holmes wanted to get a lot of shots up.

The first dunk of practice comes with 33:30 left on the clock. Of course, it was Wiseman. It was a soft dunk, however. Nothing like the dunks that make him the No. 1 recruit or the favorite to be the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft come 2020. He's probably saving it for later.

Buy Photo

James Wiseman, of Memphis East High School, stretches before his team's game in the Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions at JQH Arena on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019.(Photo: Andrew Jansen/News-Leader)

When the buzzer sounds, Seattle's Rainier Beach walks down the stairs of the arena ready to take the floor. The Mustangs huddle up at midcourt to wrap up practice.

This time when they get on the bus, it's a lot louder. They're awake. Beats from the rap music aren't limited to headphones — but also from unplugged cellphones.

The bus unloads and the team is back in the hotel at 10:15 a.m. and has a quick meeting in the lobby.

Holmes tells the team it's time to get focused. It's a business trip. "It's time to start thinking about the game," he said. It's a weird time of the year when anyone could beat you — even a local Parkview team playing without its best player.

Until the 4:30 p.m. tip, the Mustangs hang around the hotel until the bus departs an hour and 15 minutes before the game. Lunch will be served, but the players are set to hang around in their rooms.

Being the No. 1 recruit in the country

It's 2:52 p.m. and the bus is scheduled to take off in 23 minutes. Wiseman lies on the floor in his own room and does some extra stretching.

He spent most of the day napping — aside from the lunch from Subway the players were given.

Wiseman has to duck to get through the door — he also had to sleep diagonally so he could fit on the bed. He looks forward to playing at Memphis. They told him they'd have a bed big enough for him.

He stays humble and he tries to be a kid. Wiseman, of course, likes to play Fortnite and NBA 2K.

Wiseman also likes to read. Harry Potter is his favorite, and he also likes to listen to business books in preparation for one day majoring in business.

The most recent book he read was "The Mamba Mentality" by Kobe Bryant. It helps him stay focused as he sets out to lead his teammates before taking off to college.

"I just want to help gain as much information that I can," Wiseman said. "I just want to give (my teammates) information as they go deeper into their careers."

One of the weirdest parts of being a 17-year-old superstar is that everyone wants your autograph, according to Wiseman. But he loves to give them. He was once that little kid trying to get signatures from his heroes.

"I just try to do it for every kid possible," Wiseman said. "If they come up to me, I just do it."

Wiseman does like to read the mock drafts every once in a while. He knows he's a projected No. 1 overall pick in 2020, but he also knows that can change at any moment.

"I don't get on social media," Wiseman said. "But I look at them every once in a while. It's something that motivates me. It just makes me work harder."

It's 3:10 p.m. and it's time for Wiseman and his teammates to get on the bus. He throws on his Beats by Dre headphones and turns on his favorites — Drake and J. Cole — and starts to think about the different positions he needs to be in when he takes the court.

'We gotta prevail'

The bus is loaded at 3:14 p.m. and it's quiet, but it's not because the team is tired this time — they're focused.

It departs six minutes later and pulls up in front of JQH Arena seven minutes before tip.

"Let's do go fellas," Holmes tells the team. Silence follows.

The team walks back into JQH Arena for the second time that day. They walk down to the tunnels of the arena and take up a locker room — which turns out to be the wrong one — before they have to move.

Wiseman and other teammates take off to get extra tape. The rest of the team goes to stretch but can't take warmup shots until 30 minutes before tip.

After going through stretches and warmups, the team heads back to the locker room. It's almost game time.

Buy Photo

James Wiseman, of Memphis East High School, sits in the locker room before his team's game in the Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions at JQH Arena on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019.(Photo: Andrew Jansen/News-Leader)

The team huddles up in chairs around a whiteboard. Holmes stands with one leg up on the chair as he addresses his team.

"We know how prestigious this tournament is," Holmes begins. "The crowd won't be in our favor. We gotta play like we're 20 points down. We want to set the tone this evening. As a team, we need to come out and show our dominance tonight."

Holmes looks at his phone and reads: "Stop avoiding the path God gave to us because you're afraid to step on someone's toes."

He looks up at his team: "God brought all of us together. You can't be afraid to step on someone else's toes.

"We gotta prevail."

The team stands and puts their arms around each other and recites the Lord's Prayer. There are 10 minutes until the opening tip.

The team breaks out to prevail.

Memphis East took the court with 8:40 left until opening tip. It's game time.

Dominance on the court

Wiseman was announced to the loudest cheer for anyone not in a Parkview uniform, and he had the crowd in awe once he got the ball in his hands.

His first dunk came off a putback dunk with 4:20 left in the opening quarter. At that time, the Mustangs already held a 9-0 lead. Within seconds, he found himself at the rim again for a second dunk. Wiseman ended with three dunks in the first quarter.

His long arms and post moves shined offensively — looking similar to Bosh and, his favorite, Davis.

The highlight of the first half came in the second quarter when Wiseman found himself alone on the fastbreak. He threw down a windmill dunk — something you don't see often from 7-footers.

Memphis East went into the half up 35-14. Wiseman ended the first half with a game-high 16 points as he outscored Parkview overall.

Buy Photo

James Wiseman, center, of Memphis East High School, looks at his phone while getting taped up at JQH Arena for the Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019.(Photo: Andrew Jansen/News-Leader)

In the locker room at the half, Holmes wasn't too pleased with the defensive effort. The Vikings were getting too many open looks while the coach said Parkview shouldn't have even had 10 points in the half.

"Mentality," Holmes began. "You need to have that killer instinct. Let's take this up so we can get the rest. Let's not go into this quarter lackadaisically."

The third quarter didn't go as well as Holmes had hoped.

Memphis East turned the ball over nine times in the third quarter as Parkview outscored the Mustangs 15-5 by the end of it.

Parkview cut Memphis East's lead to nine on a 3-pointer by Anthony Green near the beginning of the fourth quarter, but by that time it was too little, too late.

Wiseman continued to dominate despite the second-half turnovers as his guards attempted to force the ball to him. The No. 1 recruit in the country ended his first night at JQH Arena with 21 points and 19 boards.

In the end, Wiseman and the Mustangs prevailed. Memphis East beat Parkview 55-41.

"This was a great environment," Wiseman said after the game. "I had fun this evening and we came out with a win. That was a great win."

But there was nothing too out of the ordinary when it came to Wiseman's game in the eyes of his head coach. The windmill dunk in the second quarter was just added to the long list of "wow" moments he's seen.

"Nothing with him surprises me," Holmes said. "It's not like I've never seen it before, but it's just fun to see him do stuff like that."

Buy Photo

James Wiseman, left, of Memphis East High School, smiles as he looks at his phone while riding on the bus to JQH Arena for the Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019.(Photo: Andrew Jansen/News-Leader)

As for the rest of the night, Memphis East will prepare for its next opponent. Rainier Beach and Sunrise Christian were minutes away from tipping off for the right to play in the semifinals against Memphis East when Wiseman and Holmes took questions at the postgame press conference.

Friday, it'll be the same thing all over again.

Wiseman will have another opportunity for bacon and eggs in the morning. Naptime might be interrupted by a trip to Wonders of Wildlife, but the Mustangs will take the court again at JQH Arena on Friday night.

But as Thursday night ends, Wiseman will have to, again, duck his head through his hotel room door before he goes to sleep on the bed he has to sleep diagonally on.

While walking toward a team huddle, Word of God Christian Academy guard John Wall practices the motion of a windmill dunk during the fourth quarter of their 25th Tournament of Champions basketball game against White Station High School. Jerome T. Nakagawa